you don't like it? what is wrong, grumpy. sourpuss. >> bob: i lost my mic. it's been a wonderful show. >> eric: thank you for watching. see you tomorrow. >> bret: two weeks and counting. the debates are over. now the challenger is charging. the president is rebooting. and the market is tanking. this is "special report." ♪ ♪ good evening. i'm bret baier. 14 precious campaigning days left, president obama bowing to pressure from republicans and some democrats to define his second term agenda. how much is he defining? mitt romney emerged from the debates in better shape than he was at the start. wall street is hit by bad earnings reports. renewable fears of economic

slowdown. the dow today plunged 243 points. its worst single day showing since midjune. the s&p 500 dropped 21. nasdaq fell 26-1/2. back to politics. the national race is perceived as dead even. the electoral contest has come down to handful of states. fox team coverage. chief white house correspondent ed henry tells us about the president's last minute reboot. we go first to chief political correspondent carl cameron with where the challenger is and where he goes from here. good evening, carl. >> hi, bret. romney headed west to nevada to start his final barnstorming swing of the last two weeks across the most coveted battleground state in the country. no that the final debate is in the history books to declare it a triumph. >> these debates have super charged our campaign. there is no question about it. we're seeing more and more enthusiasm, more and more support. with oar going to make sure

that the campaign and the message of the debates, rather, the messages keep going across the country. >> the latest american research group poll shows romney trailing the president in silver state but within the margin of error. real clear politic of average shows gap of less than three points. romney unveiled three new tv ads using video from the debate to show voters a positive , aggress i performance. >> the president's path means 20 million people out of work struggling for a good job. i will get people back to work with 12 million new jobs. >> instant poll had obama winning the w 53%. 24% said it was a tie. cnn poll called it closer. president obama was on offense and attacked romney repeatedly. romney agreed with aspects of the president foreign policy agenda but said killing bin laden is not a policy. >> i congratulate him on taking out bin laden and going after the leadership in al-qaeda. we can't kill our way out of this mess. >> what we need to do with

respect the middle east is stronstrong steady leadership. not wrong and reckless leadership all over the map. >> attacking me doesn't talk about how we'll deal with the challenges in the middle east and stem the tide of this violence. >> romney by most accounts showed himself capable and in commander of issues. president belittled him for out of touch with military cuts. >> you mention the navy and we have fewer ships in 1916, governor we have fewer horses and bayonettes because the nature of our military changed. we have aircraft carriers where the planes land on them. ships underwater, the nuclear submarines. >> the anti-romney super pac resumed attack on the business career. >> he promised us the same thing he promised the united states. he will give you the same thing he gave us. nothing. >> g.o.p. super pac crossroads trying to soften romney's image launching an ad featuring parents of

terminally-ill teenager he befriended. >> he cares about people. >> one of romney's new spot is straight up attack from debate last night. >> the president began an apology tour, going to various nations and criticizing america. i think they look at that and saw a weakness. >> month ago, romney was trailing in the polls and many thought that the debates could knock him out permanently. it seemed only new jersey governor chris christie said it could turn the contest up side down. a month later the debates are over, romney's virtually tied or leading in most polls. chris christie may have been right. bret? >> bret: carl cameron live in dleshray beach, florida. thank you. now to the obama campaign. a bit of a change in presentation. if not product. chief white house correspondent ed henry looks at whether today's roll-out is a better late than never scenario or political recycling. >> i am fired up right now. >> meet the new agenda. same as the old one for president obama. >> here is my plan for the

next four years. >> making education and training a national priority. building on manufacturing bill. boosting american made energy. reducing the deficit responsibly by cutting where we can, and asking wealthy to pay a little more. >> new ad that is a closing argument from the president for the final stretch. as republicans accuse him of laying out very few specifics. >> we haven't heard an agenda from the president. that's why, his campaign is taking on water and our campaign is -- [ inaudible ] >> he did lay out possible second term agenda in convention speech. they still felt the need today to unveil shiny new pamphlet headline "a plan for jobs and middle class security." the question is if there is a new way forward or repackaged from the first term as the president falls back to familiar rhetoric. >> we're not where we need to be. we have made progress.

>> david axelrod was upbeat and insisted it's romney's agenda outdated. >> we feel strongly that we have the winning hand. the president has a strong message about how we rebuild the economy. the specific steps we need to take. how we build the economy from the middle class out. this stands in stark contrast to the same old failed policies from what has been offered by governor romney. >> we have come up with a name. for the condition. it's romneyesia. we had a severe outbreak. >> the final case against romney the republican is able to recite the talking point in debate and on the stump but cannot be trusted to lead the country.

>> in the speeches, he is excellent and listing all the things that are wrong. that is not leadership you can trust. >> a few weeks ago, the obama camp was confident. today, the senior advisor david plouffe told me we'll know in two weeks. one of sus right, one is wrong. the bravado is gone and they don't know how this will end. >> defense industry workers who went to bed right after the debate resting the little easier perhaps. because of the promise of no sequestration got a rude awakening this morning. doug mckelway tells us that is not what the president meant i apparently. >> across the board cuts to

take effect on january 2 and it happened when president said this. >> first, this is not something that i propose. this is something that congress proposed and won't happen. >> david plouffe walked it back telling reporters sequestration should not happen. the shift of the not so subtle acknowledgment that the threat of sequestration is a bargaining ship that they may use to get republicans in distasteful tax increases in the lame duck session. in virginia, where one out of four adults works at defense or government job threatened by sequestration, defense contractor william hobson fears the impact. >> that is the biggest problem is the uncertainty. >> northern virginia has largely been cushioned from the effect of the recession. if sequestration happens that

will change. >> they are coming in virginia subject to sequestration. >> economist fuller says virginia could lose 200,000 jobs and one reason that both the political parties two weeks away from a pivotal election are distancing themselveses from the painful potential cuts they agreed to in summer of 2011. that is in direct contra division to the warn act requiring the notification. >> it's akin to being in a car. you find you are playing chicken and you have the company in there. they are saying if we lower the cliff, we will help you out provided that you don't tell folks that are in the car with us. >> senate republican graham and mccain sent a letter to the white house warning they will block any effort by the administration to reimburse the contractors, to fail to

provide the warn act notification. >> it's the law of the land. sequestration is the law of the land. no matter if you like the law you have to follow the law in america. >> the president's claim he did not propose sequestionsation, that congress did is challenge today by none other legendary reporter bob woodward who wrote about it in the book "the price of power." today, he told politico what the president said is not correct. he is mistaken. it's refuted by people who work for him. woodward said jack lew made the proposal and presented it to the senate majority leader harry reid who presented it to congressional republicans. bret? >> bret: another countdown to the end of the year. thank you. so what do you think about the looming defense cuts? let me know on twitter. follow me. @bretbaier. one of the campaigns taken in $4.5 million from who knows

where. we'll explain later in the grapevine. up next, the smoking gun on the libya terror attack. [ boy ] there i was. another holiday stuck at the kids table again. then it happened. every boy's dream.

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>> bret: fox news is told about a smoking gun concerning the origin of last month's deadly terror attack in libya. we have new information tonight about one of the suspects. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge is with me now. good evening. >> good evening. thank you. tunisia national was arrested in turkey and is held by the tunisian authority in connection with benghazi attack on 9/11. he's described as participant and not commander of the assault. he is among some two dozen individuals on a list of potential suspects who are linked to the attack and intelligence traffic, intercept in his case, bragging to a close circle of friends as well as surveillance camera video from the compound. rogers is chairmae

house intelligence committee. >> i'm not comfortable with where we are today tracking the folks that identifying, tracking and bringing to justice people killed in an american ambassador. >> military expert say the use of mortar at the annex or cia outpost in benghazi deseb scrutiny because it's with the administration characterization attack as spontaneous or opportunenistic. >> the use of this, the effective use is the smoking gun showing that that was a preplanned terrorist operation. >> while the annex was struck in the second wave of the attack, approximately 0430. the location was designated in advance when the visual contact with the target was possible. >> mortar was set up in hours of daylight to make sure they had, again, the compass angle. exactly right. >> given the first two mortars nearly missed the annex with a sub scant two rails making direct hit, experts say the

mortar team had help on the ground. more evidence of coordination and premeditation. >> a spotter has to see the initial strike of the rounds and adjust that deflection and distance so the next set of rounds land on target. >> from a military perspective, that is graduate level work. >> fox news is told attackers use so-called blocking teams to block off any pass between the consulate and annex a mile away. >> the u.s. officials insist the attackers and the mortar team battle hardened. of the uprising against the dictator gaddafi. they had the ability to pull together that operation on the day without advanced planning. >> bret: okay. we'll stay on it. thank you. >> you're welcome. >> bret: activists in syria say at least 20 people were killed when government forces shelled a bakery in aleppo. they say the dead include women and children. bakery is a little over a mile from the front lines. still ahead, we will tell you who got it right and who got it wrong in last night's debate. a little fact checking.

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>> bret: tonight we have new information on hunt for terrorist responsible from the libyan attack. georgia senator saxby chambliss joins us from new york. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> bret: before you came on, i don't know if you heard but herron had a report about a tunisia national. one of i guess two dozen individuals. what can you tell us about him in what about the process of tacking the people down?

>> unfortunately we don't know much about him because we have not had access to him. that is one of the problems of the policy of the administration. the turks did take possession of him but they weren't prepared to let us have any access and didn't. now that they turned him over to the tunisians, i hope eventually we will. >> we know he is a member of organization in libya with close ties to al-qaeda. the leadership trained in camps in afghanistan. hopefully at some point in the near future our f.b.i. is going to be able to have access to him. >> bret: is f.b.i. running point on this? >> they are. anytime we have an instance like this, even though it happens overseas, violation of american law.

under our judicial system the f.b.i. takes the lead. unfortunate that the f.b.i. has been handicapped by the libyans not letting them have access. both to the site in benghazi as well as access to the individuals who were involved. yet the press has been able to go to benghazi. they have been able to talk freely with some of the individuals who were guards. witnesses. of one form or another. the administration has not pushed the libyan government to give the f.b.i. the access they need. >> what we heard if from the administration it's dangerous for the f.b.i. is that not the case? are they held back from the libyans? >> not a safe place for sure. we can protect the f.b.i. give them the access they need.

the f.b.i. does not have that access. >> bret: greg palkot was on the ground giving a tour of the compound. you are not happy with the hunt for people responsible? >> i'm not in least. neither with the way it proceededdor access we've been given. this individual in the hands of tunisian is a classic example of what happens when you have lack of policy and detention and interrogation. once the president in january of 2009 signed the executive order, saying we are going to shut down guantanamo, any enemy combatant as this individual is there are no policy in place to take possession and interrogate him in a way to gain valuable

information. not only that, but it doesn't appear to be any effort to get our hands on this guy. who is one of any number of which we don't know yet. around 100 to 150 of all likelihood of the individuals who participated in the attack. >> bret: i don't want to relitigate the things the administration said and when they said it, but i want to ask one thing. you found out within the first 24 hours from the intelligence community that this wa was a terrorist attack. we heard from report, numerous outlets that the president didn't get a daily brief that said that until september 22. is that possible in your frame of mind? you're on the intelligence committee. how do you process that? >> i hope that is not the case.

we know the president got a briefing in 24 hours at that point in time. when is the next briefing he got? we members of the intelligence committee don't get a daily report on whether the president got a update on not, but the reports are accurate, then i'm astonished because i can tell you, members of the house intelligence committee and members of the senate intelligence committee in bipartisan way asking hard and tough questions of the intelligence community on daily basis. often times more than once a day. we were demanding to know what went on. if the president was not doing that, then i would be shocked. >> bret: you were saying from the beginning you were hearing it was a military type attack. terrorists attack and terrorist related and coordinated. >> no question about it. unfortunately we did not have the right kind of intelligence to let us know it was going to happen. nor did we have the right intelligence after it happene

happened. based on the information we had, we knew pretty quickly that it was a planned attack. carried out by terrorists who obviously that were focused on this particular consulate. we can only assume that it was al-qaeda attack or affiliate. turns out it looks like what it was. >> bret: only a few second here. last night the president said the sequester, the defense cuts is not, it will not happen. after the debate, the top aide david plouffe said sequestration should not happen. are you surprised by back track? what the president said and the back track? >> i was surprised. out there saying that this is foolish to do this.

we semipli put a gun to our head. if president said congress did it, give me a break. a woodward said and the book states the idea of the sequester came from administration. it came from the white house. a foolish idea but we're stuck with it. it is the law. i'm not sure whether the president is coming from in saying that sequestration is not going to happen. he is the one that has been saying he will veto any plan that comes to the desk that seeks to void sequestration. >> bret: senator, thank you very much for the time. in a european country scientists that can't predict the future go to jail. grapevine is next. mike rowe here at a ford dealer with a little q&a for fiona.

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>> bret: fresh pickings from the political grapevine. new report says president obama's campaign receive $4.5 million this year from people who refuse to provide a zip code or claim to live in a zip code that does not exist. the government accountability institute says the romney campaign took in $300,000. team obama tells fox news, the data they are using to make their case is not correct. they are making incorrect assumptions about what it means. the "washington examiner" notes ironically president obama suggested that republicans would benefit from illegal foreign donations during the 2010 "state of the

union" address. the gai previously reported only half of federal campaigns failed. to verify the location of donors. the investigative project on terrorism, another data collection, data gathering center on islamists, though, is accusing the obama administration of allowing scores of known radical islamists to make hundreds of visits to the white house. it cites court documents and other records to identify visitors belonging to groups serving as front for the muslim brotherhood, hamas, and other islamist militant organizations. we reached out to the white house for reaction on that and have not heard back. finally, seven scientists in italy have been sentenced to six years each in prison for failing to adequately warn residents of a deadly earthquake. the 2009 trembleer killed more than 300 people. the defendants were convicted of manslaughter. as you might imagine, the scientific community in italy was outraged. and worried saying there was no way to know blurry of

tremors would lead to the deadly quake. today, four top italian disaster experts quit their posts in protest. now back to american politics. you heard the arguments inst ni. now it's time to separate fact from fiction. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel on what the candidates got right and wrong. >> one of the tense's moments of the final presidential debate involved the charge president obama apologized to other countries for american behavior. >> and the president began what i called an apology tour. of going to various nations in the middle east and criticizing america. i think they look at that and saw weakness. >> this has been probably the biggest whop they're has been told in the course of this campaign. every fact-checker and reporter looked at it, governor, said this is not true. >> mr. president, the reason i call it an apology tour, is because you went to the middle east. you flew to egypt. and to saudi arabia.

and to turkey and iraq. then in those nations, on arabic tv, you said america has been dismissive and derisive. you said that america dictated other nations. america has not dictated to other nations. we have freed other nations from dictators. >> shortly after taking office in 2009, amid a string of highly criticized photo ops, mr. obama did use some of the words romney mentioned while overseas. >> in america, there is a failure to appreciate europe's leading role in the world. instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you, to meet common channels, there have been times where americans showed arrogance. and been dismissive. even derisive. >> in cairo, mr. obama said 9/11 led america to act contrary to the traditions and our ideals. one claim romney made was geographically challenged. >> syria is iran's only ally

in the arab world. their route to the sea. >> iran actually has access to the persian gulf. and doesn't share a border with syria. and though it was a foreign policy debate, a testy moment came when mr. obama said the f he had taken romney's advice we'd be buying cars from china instead of selling to them. romney pushed back. >> i said they need the companies, the companies need to go through a managed bankruptcy and in that process, they can get government help and government guarantees but they need to go through a bankruptcy to get rid of the excess cost. the debt burden they built up. fortunately -- >> gor romney that is not what you said. >> you can take a look -- >> you did not say you would provide help. >> romney wrote op-ed on november 128, 2008 where he said the federal government should provide guarantees for the post bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers' their warranties are not at risk. >> thank you. the fox all-stars break down the final debate when we come

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you mentioned the navy for example and we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. well, governor, we also have fewer horses and bayoneetes, because the nature of our military has changed. we have things called aircraft carriers where planes land on them. we have ships that go under water. nuclear submarines. and so the question is not a game of battleship. >> bret: well, that is from last night's debate. the final debate. and the fall-out today. as all kind of people weighed in. the polls have not obviously factored in yet but it is a close race across the country. bring in our panel. steve hayes for "weekly standard." a.b. stoddard, associate editor of the hill. syndicated columnist charles krauthammer. a.b., you didn't weigh in last

night. that moment caught a lot of ears and eyebal eyeballs today. >> i thought that president obama at times was defense and a little desperate. i thought he was obnoxious but i think he won the debate in that he did not lose the debate. he gave a command performance, he was the commander-in-chief, he knew what he was talking about and defended his record most importantly. he didn't deliver the kind of performance that he had had in the first debate. he didn't fail. he needed to keep it tight. i think at the same time, romney did not lose that debate. he surprised many people. his decision to forego an opportunity to challenge the president on benghazi. terrible story to the administration. was a real stunner to many people. he agreed with him on many things. flipping around again on afghanistan. swerving around with a new discussion of a comprehensive middle east strategy to involve economic and education opportunities for people in

order to persuade them to reject jihad. this is a new romney doctrine we haven't heard of before. behe did not make a mistake and he did not fall on his face. he did not want to get in a fight to make obama look like he was ready for war and eager for military intervention in the middle east. that was his objective. he achieved it. by that, i think he succeeded in passing the calm, steady knowledgeable commander-in-chief threshold. that is all he needed to do. >> bret: last night, chris wallace said after the debate if you look at it you'd think romney was the president and perhaps barack obama was the challenger. is it possible going in, mitt romney is a guy who looks at the numbers very closely. that they looked at internal numbers and said we need to hold this ball. that it was behind the strategy. on the flip side that the president needed to take some swings. >> i think romney decided that

with the first debate he met the crucial threshold for being acceptable alternative to the presidency. and once he achieved that, he was on a roll. people aren't happy with the obama record. and they don't see an obama agenda. it's like 1980, you have to believe reagan was not a nutcase once he met the threshold for the acceptable alternative, it was over. romney reached the threshold in first debate. he may have calculated decision about he is not going to jeopardize that getting in a fistfight. obama on the other hand was, i think, attacking all the time. interrupting a lot. the clip we saw about the navy stuff was perfect example of his, i think, why he failed last night. it was small. condescending and off the mark. what is the point he is trying to make? that because we have high-tech weaponry, we therefore don't need a navy or we need a smaller navy? what did you think that we're retiring? dinghies? what we're doing when we

shrink the navy is retiring important capital ships. he says, you know, president, mr. romney, you know we have aircraft carriers. so what is his point here? because it's high-tech and because it's multiplier of power we only have to have smaller ships? aircraft carriers don't patrol alone. for every one out there, you have ten times support ship. that is not an argument slinking the navy. i'm not sure that there were people in norfolk, virginia, who he needs that is happy to hear that the navy is obsolete and shrink it at will. >> romney was playing not to lose the debate. i don't think he lost it. obama played seriously to win the debate. we go in with two questions of the outcome of the debate.

does the president's condescending and disrespectful treatm of romney hurt him with independents? there is a chance it could. the mocking that you played there. he said governor i'm glad to think you think al-qaeda is a threat. faz there's an indication that romney doesn't think it's a threat. will romney's attempt to be above the fray end up making him look weak and that he doesn't have strong convictions or views on these things given the number of times he agreed with the president. >> bret: i want to play a long section, back and forth and we heard about it on the apology tour. just see the interaction between the two. >> the president began what i called the apology tour of going to various nations in the middle east and criticizing america.

>> this has been the biggest whopper told in the campaign. every fact checker and reporter looked at it, governor, said it's not true. >> the reason i call it an apology tour is because you went to the middle east and you flew to egypt. to saudi arabia and turkey and iraq. and by way, you skipped israel. our closers friend in the region. you went to the other nations. by the way, they noticed that you skipped israel. and then in those nations, arabic tv you said america had been dismissive and derisive. you said it on occasion that america dictated to other nations. mr. president, america has not dictated to other nations we freed nations from dictators. >> bob, if we are going to talk about trips we have taken, when i was a candidate for office, the first trip i took was to visit our troo troopsment i went to israel as

candidate i didn't take donors or attend fundraisers. i went to the holocaust museum there to remind myself the nature of evil. and why our bond with israel will be unbreakable. then i went to the border towns that experienced missiles raining down from hamas. >> bret: charles? >> that was i thought the moment of this debate. i think that is where romney scored the zinger he said america doesn't dictate, america liberates other countries. then obama goes off in a fog about trips he has taken. since we're talking about trips, this isn't about competing travel logs. the issue here is about the president is on the foreign soil, does he denigrate the united states or does he defend the honor and the purpose and the nobility of the united states? that is the crucial issue. you know, people don't care

that much about our policy in syria. and they care nothing about the policy in mali, which we heard a lot about. they care how we are seen in world and how we defend ourselves and carry ourselves in the world. that i thought was a devastating, devastating statement that romney made and obama had nowhere to go on that. >> bret: quickly, a.b. >> i thought that was the moment of the night. again, i think that because romney had that moment, and one or two others, again, without making a mistake he was really able to pass the test. he knows what he is talking about. rod the to be the commander-in-chief. >> bret: where does it leave us for final two weeks? we talk about that when we come back. [ male announcer ] you've reached the age where you don't back down from a challenge. this is the age of knowing how to make things happen. sowhy let erectile dysfunction

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in this campaign, i've laid out a plan for jobs, and middle class security. unlike mitt romney, i'm actually proud to talk about what is in it. [ applause ] because my plan actually will move america forward. >> this is a candidacy. his is a message of going forward with the same policies the last four years. and that is why his campaign is slipping and that's why ours is gain somethining so muc. >> bret: obama campaign putting out glossy brochure today. the new portfolio, if you. will i'm not sure if many analysts looking at it would say it's a new plan. back with the panel. a.b., a lot of if things in there we heard before.

packaled differently but we heard it before. >> this is reaction to panic the democratic ranks in the last few weeks that he is blowing the debates, slipping in the polls and the criticism from romney and ryan he didn't have a plan was, you know, resonating. legitimate one. it would cost the president and come up with the plan if it holds up now, a plan for six months they have been handing out events. the next two weeks are not about the plan. they're about the ground operation. intensity on the republican side. so much greater than the enthusiasm on the democratic side. that president obama really gets to prove now that his ground game for a year-and-a-half is truly second to none, because if it's not. he is going to lose. it's really a question of finding those voters who are soft supporters. they're disappointed. they don't want to support romney and happy to stay home. getting them to the polls and

without them he doesn't make it. >> bret: for all the criticism about mitt romney not having specifics, and paul ryan not having specifics if you look through the pamphlet, there is a question about specifics. about the president's plan. on entitlement reform. on a lot of different topics. >> the difference isn't which candidate has specifics. the difference is who the media pestered until they provide specifics. president never offered specifics about the medicare reform or driver of the debt. he get aceway with it, he gets a pass. we have seen the president and obama campaign and administration do this before. they think it's a communication problem. not a substance problem. so they repackage it and present it in different ways and give you a glossy. that is not the problem here. the problem is the substance. the problem is the record. one of the most important lines we heard is the one you

played for romney, he is now making the argument, i expect him to continue to do this for the next two weeks. barack obama is the status quo candidate. romney is the candidate of change. he is the candidate of reform. what the president is doing is what is not been working. that will be a pretty effective argument, if he labels that it way. >> bret: charles, it seems the president has come up with a new slogan that there is an affliction, romneynesia and a severe outbreak last night. stage three romneynesia. he gets laughs on the stump. what about the closing argument for the president in the last two weeks and what you expect to see from him? >> when your closing arguement is holding up a glossy with nothing in it and saying i have a plan, read it, you have nothing. they tried the ideology in the first term, went the stimulus and obama kerr and regulation. they went with everything.

economy the worst recovery since second world war and slowing. what will they offer? he is not going to -- he could have done a clinton and gone back to the center as he did in '96. triangulateed and that is not obama, not who he is. he doesn't have an agenda. he is running on kill romney. that worked because he had all the money and there were no answers to all the ads until the first debate. he has run out of ideas. that is his problem right now. >> bret: what is the hope for democrats if they close to win? what is their closing hope? >> i don't know what the closing argument will be. i think they only turn out as a result of fear. there is a better chance to get them in the car. >> if not i don't think enough turn out. >> that is it for the panel. we'll be in ohio next week.

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>> bret: finally tonight, microtargetting. each campaign has different tactics to go after different groups. each demographic have different things they pay attention to, different messaging that works with each different group. when it comes to moms and dads though, well, there are big differences. ♪ >> oh, see mom walking along the lake there? the baby is all tucked in with the stroller. >> here is dad.